Community to HeliOS - We're Burnin' for You

Throughout my life, I've heard the term "It's either feast or famine".

And in some circumstances, I agree.  The Fates seem to amuse themselves by surprising us with an abundance of stuff, or stifle us with complete inertia.

In this case, we've found ourselves behind the 8 ball of sorts.  We have recently experienced 70 - 80 percent class sizes and have been asked from outside agencies for help in getting several computers either fixed or diagnosed.

What we don't have is the time to get the Linux live cd's burned.  Looks like we are going to need upwards of 50 for our immediate needs.

If you have time and the resources to help us burn these disks, we need to have these disks on hand within the next couple of weeks.

I know it seems a simple thing but with Diane still in need of 24/7 care and most of our volunteers either on vacation or working long hours, we don't have the resources to get these burned.

If you need us to pay postage, we will be happy to paypal it to you.  We will need about an even number of Linux Mint gnome DVD's and CD's.

And of course, thank you for helping us do this.  While we have some stockpiled, it will give us a chance to burn a few here and there and keep up with the demand.  You can send the disks  to:

The HeliOS Project
307 Ferguson Street
Taylor, Texas  76574

You guys rock.

All-Righty Then...

Can You Teach Computer 101?

The HeliOS Project has settled nicely into our new home.  We've stashed, stuck, and stacked all of our computers and components in the correct places.  We've built our work environments and stocked the shelves with most of the parts we need and we're well on our way to getting these computers to kids who need them most.


 Another part of the HeliOS mission is to teach people how to use computers...and it's not the kids that need this help....


It's the adults.


Here are just a couple of real-life examples for you.

While we were teaching a 101 class down at the Bruno Knaapen Technology Learning Center, we covered keyboard shortcuts.  You and I know how much time they can save, but the computer novice has no clue.

Many older adults finally get tired of not being able to receive emails from the grand kids and family so they grudgingly decide to at least try to learn the basics.  Just teaching them to grasp the difference between left and right mouse clicks can test one's patience and compassion.


As I ran through the different shortcuts, I demonstrated the F11 full screen feature.  Most everyone met the discovery with assorted "meh" attitudes but one older lady sat with her face in her hands and was visibly affected.  She asked me....

"Is this key the only thing that can make that happen, I mean make everything go away but the screen?"

I assured her that under normal circumstances it was.

She went on to share with the class that from time to time, she would inadvertently hit that key, making the screen go full.  Of course, she had no idea what key she had pushed.  

Honestly, I thought she was going to cry.

No one in the assisted living center knew how to bring the menus and task bar back and she was frozen in place, unable to do anything.

In desperation, she would reinstall Windows from scratch.  Not knowing anything about data backups, she would lose everything she had accumulated.

Just because she did not know that the F11 key was the culprit and the cure.

And this just in from the "If I had only known" desk...

You and I take the cut, copy and paste commands for granted.  I think almost everyone does.

Almost everyone.

We ran into a gentleman that had no clue about these commands.  When he wanted to keep or send a particular part of something on a website, he would shrink his browser to half size, open an instance of notepad and then type the text verbatim and then save it.  He had an entire library of folders, based on subject and date, filled with text files of things he had copied over time .

Keep in mind, the gentleman did not touch type...it was index fingers and cramped wrists for his efforts. 

I swear, when he finally grasped the concept of copy and paste, I thought the Hallelujah Chorus was going to fill the room.

And it's for reasons like this that we teach computer and Internet 101.

Our classes are held at our classroom in Taylor, every other week on Tuesday-Thursday evenings, from 7 to 8 PM.  Currently, I am caught between staying at home with Diane and teaching these classes.  There are some nights I am not comfortable in leaving her alone.

If you are interested in volunteering to teach for us, please contact me via email. 

The very best we can offer you is unlimited cold drinks and our thanks.

Of course, you can always help us save someone from reformatting a hard drive and reinstalling an operating system out of ignorance.

All-Righty Then

Corporate Responsibility? Try Returning a Phone Call

There are few things that upset me any more.

Stress, as reported, is a killer and I can attest to the toll it can take on a person who considers it a necessary part of their life.  I have learned to employ "The 24 Hour Rule".

Whatever it is, whatever is bothering you or causing you angst, simply ask yourself one question.

"What bearing will this have on my life in 24 hours?"

To my experience, the majority of perceived problems or worries will have zero impact within the next 24 hours.

But there is always the exception...that one nagging thing that stays under your skin with an insatiable itch.  Let me set it up for you.

A few months back, a social worker from Dell Children's Hospital called HeliOS and asked if we could supply a laptop to one of their financially disadvantaged patients.  Valyncia has been beaten badly by multiple illnesses.  From a previous blog:

"Three weeks ago, I accepted a reference from the Dell Children's Hospital to deliver a computer to a 12 year old girl.  Valyncia is an A and B student and home schooled.  She is home schooled for a good reason.

She has a rare, incurable and terminal blood disorder.  She won't live to see her 15th birthday.  On top of that she has Cerebral Palsy and she lives her waking hours in leg braces." 

I met with Valyncia's parents the next day and delivered the laptop.

It wasn't long after that, we began receiving calls for other kids at Dell Children's Hospital, asking for desktops and laptops.  I had advised the social worker to pass our name around for others who might qualify for a HeliOS computer.

In a phrase, we were slammed.  It wasn't long before we ran out of laptops.  I called the social work office at the hospital and spoke to another social worker and advised her that we were out of laptops and we couldn't take any more referrals for them at this time.

While I was talking to her, it occurred to me that the Dell Children's Hospital might be better served by contacting, oh, I don't know....maybe Dell?  I don't think Dell runs out of laptops.  I mentioned it to the social worker and she laughed.  She said she hadn't thought of that and we ended the conversation.

Three weeks later, I got a call from another parent wanting a laptop for their child,  I again explained that we were out and I would take her number and call her when we had more in.  I then called the social work office at the hospital to remind them not to furnish our number until we called them and informed them that we had more laptops.


In that conversation, I also asked if she had contacted Dell about maybe supplying hospital kids with laptops.

She said that she had, on numerous occasions and with numerous people but as of yet, had not received a call or an email back.

This is old news to HeliOS.  We have been contacting Dell since 2008, hoping to form some sort of partnership with them.  To date, we have never received a call or email back from anyone.  We're talking over 50 calls and emails to 21 different people.

It was a sales service rep attending the 2011 Texas Linux Fest that finally drilled down into the problem and emailed us an answer.

Dell is contracted with a refurbishing company and all old equipment, either decommissioned or broken, must go to them for repair or disposal.

Now how friggin' easy was that?

Case closed.

Problem solved.

Answer received.

Stress alleviated.

I think what chapped my nether regions the most is that we have gone through the correct channels to partner with Dell Youth Connect or the predecessor to that program.  We've done so twice a year since 2008.

Nada.  Not one answer, acknowledgement or response.

So as we found with Acer, not only do companies become too big to fail, they can also become too big to care.  They see "global need" because it is politically expedient but they refuse to look right under their own nose.  And I no longer give a flip about Dell calling us back.  It is obvious that we've been put on hold for an indeterminate period.

Cue Musak.

But when Dell won't even answer inquiries concerning questions from their own sponsored hospitals....

There's something wrong there.  But hey, they're taking care of kids in Kenya and India...and that's all well and good.  They are doing good work.  Possibly that is more important to them than tending to the garden in their own back yard.

Or maybe, the politics don't add up for them to do so.

All-Righty Then...

Butterfly Wings

I grew up on a ranch outside of Phoenix for some of my childhood.  As a "kid", I had few manual duties outside of cleaning the occasional stable or taking the dogs out to round up calves.  One duty that I loved was "riding fence".

Not in the traditional sense, horses are far more unreliable and less tolerant than Hollywood has made them out to be.  In my opinion, they are one of the most devious animals on earth.  For that reason and the fact that saddling a horse is a PITA, I would jump on my old Yamaha 125 and head for the nether-regions of our property.  With me I would take my holster and pistol along with a roll of bright orange rubber tape.  If I found a break or a weakness in the fence, I would tie a piece of tape on the offending section and ride off in search of another breach.  Others would come behind me to make the repairs.

On one such occasion, I was rolling out the appropriate length of tape to tie on the fence when I noticed a Monarch butterfly on the barbed wire.  Our ranch was on the outside edge of their migration path to and from Mexico so it wasn't rare to see them in large numbers, but seeing only one was.

Upon inspection, I saw that the insect had found a way to get her wing stuck onto one of the barbs.  I gently pulled it off and looked at the small,  almost-perfect 3 corner tear at the edge of the wing.  I let it crawl to the tip of my finger and she flew off but not as surely as most.  Her pattern was erratic and stuttering but eventually she compensated for it and went on about her business.

That few minutes in time has somehow stuck in my mind and now I see a reason.

When I brought Diane home from the hospital after her stroke, I had already prepared myself for taking care of her physical needs.  I knew it was going to be a long and contentious road.  What I was not prepared for nor did I know anything about, were the mental challenges we were to face.

Diane began acting strangely about the 4th day she was home.  Of course she is terribly weak and she is taking 15 different medications so at first I attributed her behavior to her medications, but as the week progressed, these "changes" would appear about 5:30 pm each night.  She would have conversations with relatives long dead.  She would accuse her daughter and me of trying to poison her.

It was heartbreaking to watch.  As I researched this problem, I found a condition known as "Sundowner's Syndrome.  The problem with almost every reference I found was as it pertains to Alzheimer’s victims, and not stroke sufferers.

There is, as I have found, to be a difference.  My thanks to those in the medical profession who answered my request for help.

My biggest concern was that this would be a permanent condition.  However, I learned that a long stay in a hospital when the patient is largely unconscious or unaware can lead to this as well.

We've been two nights now with focus and clarity.

This all brought me back to the butterfly wing 4 decades ago.  How delicate the butterfly wing is, yet it carries the butterfly thousands of miles every year to migrate.  How delicate the human mind is...yet it is mighty.  Minds have spanned rivers, built cities and cured diseases.  Minds have led with the first tentative footsteps into space and have explored the sub-atomic worlds that will ultimately surprise us more so.

Yet they fall prey to the simplest of changes and they trap whole bodies inside a black captivity.

I suppose my point is, if any...we're not always going to be able to do what we do best.  Someday, we may find ourselves talking with our deceased grandmother while others look on helplessly.  I guess we all might have something to get up and go do.  To use our minds for good things, while we are still able.

Myself included.

Ken

Of Operating Systems and Oil Companies

A recent 3 part guest article by chikauuna did an outstanding job of showing us the bread crumb trail she laid between using Windows and converting to Linux.  I want to personally thank her for that contribution and the time it took to write it.

It gave many of us some things to think about.  Or if you are on the development side, things to further ignore.

Either way, what is written is written.

However...in reading her work, I was reminded that human behavior of the universal type comes into play here much more than many of us might think.

I believe one of those Universal Truths is that the majority of us resist change.  We have our habits and routines, and you dare not stand within arm's reach while suggesting to someone they change them.

Here let me offer an analogy...and yes, it's the best way I know to illustrate the point.  (1) Because it's an analogy and its function is to illustrate a point and (2) I'm pretty much a hack. I have neither the writing skills or the desire to obtain those writing skills in order to more creatively express my point.

Gas prices here in Central Texas have, for lack of a better word...plummeted.  Three weeks ago, I was paying $3.88 per gallon of gasoline.  Yes I know, people in other parts of the country were paying more.  I get that.  And should it be a temptation, let's not let this digress into a gripe session over the child-eating oil companies or the Evil Rich that do their food shopping for them.

The price of gasoline is just a bit player in this thing.

As an aside, I will ask you to gaze intently at the price per gallon sign at your local gas station and together we'll come the realization that this is probably the first time in our lifetimes that the price of gasoline has not shot up 6-8 percent in anticipation of a major holiday.  Instead, it continues to go down.

It's the 4th of July for us in the US...not such a big deal for you elsewhere.  Allow us our over-indulgence in alcoholic beverages, over-exposure to UV rays and rare meat while we pretty much ignore the actual reason for the red number on the calendar.



So, I'm on my way to fill the belly of the beast.  I have my favorite place to buy gas and the few "quick stop" items I may need at the time.  On my way there, I passed a Shell station and noticed that they were charging $3.49 a gallon.

In itself, that price wouldn't make sense.  Two blocks down the street, my place was pumping gas for $3.12 a gallon.

How does that work out for them?

Quite well as it turns out.  With a little thought, it became clear.

The major oil companies spend millions in mail costs each year, in order to tempt you into applying for one of their branded credit cards.  Even with the economy in the crapper and many of us with suffering credit scores, they are still offering many of us a piece of the American Dream.

Credit.

Once we get the card, it becomes too easy to pull into the Shell, Chevron or Texaco that issued you the card.

After all, it's pay at the pump...no pain, no cash exchanged and the upcoming billing statement is just a vague promise in the future.

Sure gas across the street is .25 cents cheaper, "But I've got credit!"

Interpret that as meaning I don't have the cash equivalent of that purchase in my pocket.

Not only can you purchase fuel at an inflated price on your credit card, you can buy all the handy little incidentals you might need at home.  Milk, bread, a jar of peanut butter...

At about the same markup.

The oil companies, and probably to a larger degree, all businesses that issue credit cards, count on building "customer loyalty" in this manner.  Soon, you stop looking at the price. Yeah, you'll pay for it soon but for right now, this is just so convenient.

Are you getting where I'm going now?  I hope so...this analogy is getting wobbly legs.

Over 90 percent of the people who sit down at a computer do so using Microsoft Windows.  Sure they didn't apply for it, but they sure as heck pay for the "convenience" down the road.  As chikauuna pointed out, she suffered the same "inflated prices" every Windows user suffers.

The bill often comes due with the same inflated price tag. Computer repair shops more and more choose scorched earth methods to fix an infected or broken system.  Being a person who partially makes their living from the same pain, it is much, much cheaper to recover data and reinstall than it is to untangle the tentacles of a rootkit or sophisticated virus from the registry.

Even when things are running smoothly, the Windows user pays for the "convenience" by updating virus software, tolerating Windows updates and suffering sluggish behavior from a system that is six months or longer installed.

Still, every now and then, someone will look at the price posted on the sign and simply say:

"Screw that."

But it doesn't happen very often.

It's too convenient to pay the inflated bill every now and then.

All-righty then...

Sundowner's Syndrome

I know that we have several medical doctors and at least one neurologist that read Blog of helios.  If you see this and have any deeper information on Sundowner's Syndrome aside what I can find on the net, please email me helios at fixedbylinux dott komm.   Most everything I am finding is related to dementia and Alzheimer's...not stroke suffers


I would sincerely appreciate it.  I don't want medical advice per se, just some realistic options.

Thanks...

Ken

Hope and Change Inside My Computer - Part III

Prologue:  In retrospect, I have recently read a large amount of comments and articles on how Linux is not ready for prime time.  Honestly, if I had read even a fraction of these articles, I doubt I would have installed it, even with Mark's endorsement.  In the past two months or so, I can honestly say I can not understand how these writers came to such a conclusion.  Linux works extremely well for me.

With that being said, there are things in Windows I miss.


I find myself in the clumsy position of having to do some last minute editing.  As if mentally linked, my friend Mark and the host of my article, Helios; almost simultaneously informed me that if there is anything I miss about Windows software, we can be happily reunited via a program called VirtualBox.  I have since rejoined the few Windows applications I mention below.  I thought I should bring this up before any readers feel the need to recommend this solution.

Having a second degree in marketing, the advertising duties for my newspaper have been delegated to me.  They are not strenuous or over taxing, but they remain a duty.  In executing that duty, I used Microsoft Visio almost exclusively for that task.  I have to create many charts and graphs to accompany the dog and pony show that most marketing meetings actually become.  Visio was perfect for my purposes.  Plus, please note, I don't have to purchase any of these applications, they are supplied to me by my employer. 

One of the first things I did after getting settled into my new system was to search for alternatives for the software I used in Windows.  Say what you will about Microsoft Office and their operating systems, once you have a great amount of time and effort invested in learning a complex piece of software, it's hard not to resent having to learn something else.

Thus I think I have accidentally exposed one of the major stumbling blocks to Linux adaptation.  Sorry, I am the queen of digression and stating the obvious.

Google has become a close friend in the past couple of months.  Doing a search for "Linux Visio replacement", I found a few candidates, those being Dia, LibreOffice Draw and a KDE application called Kivio.

I'm still working with a couple and again, the learning curve has me leaning sideways a bit, and it is not comfortable.  Dia has some promise, Draw makes me want to bang my face into my desk until all goes dark and Kivio has been changed and is now being worked on under a different name.  Since it too is an under cooked chicken, I will wait until the insides are no longer pink before I go there.

My hesitation with Kivio was that it is (or was) a KDE application and to be honest, I don't want to muddy my pristine Gnome home with a ton of long-staying visitors.  I have heard both pro and con for mixing the two but my Linux mentor and friend Mark has advised against it, at least until I have some more experience and have learned to fix what I break by myself.  He won't fall for the helpless damsel in distress schtick any more unless I buy the pizza.  Mark can eat a lot of pizza.

Another application I used heavily in Windows is Skype.  I used it both professionally and personally and I love it.  The recent bad news that Skype has now been acquired by Microsoft makes me a bit nervous.  I have gotten it to work in Linux and under several distros but in every one of them, I had to fiddle with the sound and mic settings for a long time before I was able to get it to work to my satisfaction.

"Can you hear me now" is not funny anymore.

Neither is the fact that Microsoft now has complete control of Skype.  My worst fear is that Linux support will either stagnate or completely disappear.  I have a couple dozen friends who reside overseas and I've established communications with them exclusively through Skype, both with video and audio.  I am now experimenting with Linux alternatives but the thought of asking all those people to change protocols is not reasonable.  I sure as heck would not do it if asked.



Then there is Photoshop.  Again, as a marketing employee, I must do a large amount of graphic creation.  I have been using Photoshop for my entire college and professional career.  Of course, I immediately found Gimp in my menus and began exploring the possibilities.

Before I say anything that can or will be perceived as negative, let me say that I can do everything I need to do in Gimp that I could do in Photoshop.  I don't have complex photography tasks nor do I need CMYK+ support.  What I do need is a decent working interface.  Anyone seen one for Gimp?

I apologize now in advance for stepping on delicate toes but Holy Cow, what a mess!  I know a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into developing Gimp and I do not mean to denigrate those who have excreted aforementioned liquids.  From searching the forums on Gimp tutorials, I have found literally hundreds of complaints about the "floating" menus.  That being said, I am settling in with Gimp and no doubt will overcome the menus.  If the rumors ever come to pass that Gimp will have a unified menu, I will be happy.  The name however may take a bit longer.

Outside of these picked nits, I am a happy girl.  My computer does not freeze, I am not nagged by update cues and for the love of Pete, I can stop worrying about opening every little Windows attachment that comes my way.  Of course, I am a gmail-ite because I travel extensively and need my email available to me via a number of portable devices.   Since my laptop has gotten extremely long in the tooth, I am looking at the new Samsung Galaxy 10.0.  Mark is buying one when he goes into Forth Worth on the 5th of July so I will see what it is all about then.

I mentioned that my computer does not freeze.  It darn well shouldn't.  It has a 64 bit dual core quad processor with 4 gigs of RAM.  Windows 7 infuriated me just as much as Windows XP did with it's intermittent stalls for no obvious reason.  To be fair, a few Linux distros had momentary freezes with a slight darkening of the screen but after a bit of research, I turned Compiz off and it stopped doing it.  Personally, I don't see the point as I didn't find it useful, just wobbly and shiny.

Well there it is, for what it is worth.  That is my journey thus far into the world of Linux computing.  If I may, I'd like to add an observation.  Given what I have read, it is going to be ignored or put off as impossible but here it is anyway.

Please stop this incessant chest-beating over what Linux distro you use.  When I was doing my research and learning how to use Linux, It never ceased to irritate me, the amount of "mine is bigger and better than yours" I encountered.  The problem seemed to dominate in two of the top five distros and no, the distro I use isn't included, at least not that I noticed.  Look at it through my eyes as a new Linux user and you might get a new perspective.  Of course, a lot of it borders on religious zealotry so I say let those zealots fight it out until attrition wears them down or weeds them out.

Again, this comes from one of the great unwashed.  For what it is worth.

I'll be around.

chikauuna